Stateline Victoria

Local council rejects the latest plans for a scaled down tower in Mitcham

NATASHA SIMPSON, REPORTER: The Mitcham Towers proposal has caused furore in Melbourne's outer east. The residents don't want it and rallied against it.

TONY HOGG, MITCHAM RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION: It would be a complete eyesore.

NATASHA SIMPSON: The council knocked it back.

GEORGE DROUTSAS, WHITEHORSE MAYOR: Mitcham is not Manhattan.

NATASHA SIMPSON: Even the State Government thinks it's inappropriate.

ROB HULLS, PLANNING: The fact is that Melbourne 2030 is not a one-size-fits-all for local communities.

NATASHA SIMPSON: When the planners got the go-ahead from the Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Whitehorse Council appealed to the Supreme Court. Now, just 12 days before that final arbitration, a new proposal, negotiated by the State Government's Planning Office, is on the table. At an early morning city meeting today the plans were shown to the council's chief executive and the general manager by a facilitator from the State's Planning Office.

GEORGE DROUTSAS: The developer has submitted, at the 11th hour, just before a Supreme Court hearing, a proposal to make it eight storeys from 16. Now, that position is not acceptable to us, and we, in Whitehorse, do things properly. We're open, we're transparent, and ultimately we're accountable to the community.

NATASHA SIMPSON: The Planning Minister, Rob Hulls, says that attitude is disappointing. The Mitcham issue dogged his predecessor, Mary Delahunty, and he wants it settled by negotiation, not a judge.

ROB HULLS: The fact is that the council has decided to take this matter to the Supreme Court. Now, if they leave it there, that's a matter for them, but it's really a winner takes all, and they can't complain once the Supreme Court hands down its decision. But I would be urging the council to negotiate with the developer, on behalf of its local community, for a mediated outcome. I believe that that is in the interests of the local community.

NATASHA SIMPSON: But not everyone in the local community agrees. The new plans are being kept under wraps. The council wasn't allowed a copy, but told Stateline that the pared down proposal is for one eight-storey tower containing 150 bedrooms. Substantially smaller than the original plan, but a similar design.

TONY HOGG: It really makes no more difference than a 17-storey, because once you get up above four storeys, that's imposing on this precinct of Mitcham, as well as the school next door.

NATASHA SIMPSON: The Planning Minister denies Opposition claims that he wants a negotiated settlement over Mitcham Towers to avoid the Government's controversial planning blueprint, Melbourne 2030, being dragged through the courts. But the Opposition also wants to know why the developer is so open to change.

TED BAILLIEU, SHADOW PLANNING MINISTER: If you're a developer and you've got permits for a 17-storey tower and an 11-storey tower, you're going to need some pretty good incentive to want to change that. Now, we can only speculate what that incentive is and what the Government is offering.

ROB HULLS: All we're offering the developer is the services of my department to try and reach a mediated outcome. We have expertise within the department, we're prepared to offer that expertise, not just to the developer but also to the local community, the local council, and we think that that should be taken up.

NATASHA SIMPSON: But at this stage Whitehorse Council seems determined to go to court, insisting that the only way to settle the dispute is for the developer to scrap the old plan, pay the council's legal fees and put the new proposal through its planning office.

GEORGE DROUTSAS: We're calling the developer's bluff. We've got him backed into a corner here and we are not going to let up, we are going to stick to our guns.

NATASHA SIMPSON: The developer, Golden Ridge, says it has no intention of going back to council with the eight-storey plan, and refused to comment any further. The council believes it can win the Supreme Court case, but locals fear for the suburbs if it loses.

TONY HOGG: What it really says is that you can have a 17-storey tower in any of these neighbourhood activity centres. So anywhere which has been specified as a neighbourhood activity centre, this is what you can look forward to.